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When a U.S. federal judge - an appointee of George W. Bush, no less - ruled in favor of marriage equality in Alabama, Judge Roy Moore didn't take it lying down. The chief justice of the state supreme court in this reddest of red states immediately blasted out this furious letter to all the state's probate courts, which issue marriage licenses, ordering that "no probate judge of the State of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama probate judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that is inconsistent" with the state's same-sex marriage ban. Moore used even more brazen language in a separate letter to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center:
"As you know, nothing in the United States Constitution grants the federal government the authority to redefine the institution of marriage... The laws of this state have always recognized the Biblical admonition stated by our Lord... Today the destruction of that institution is upon us by federal courts using specious pretexts based on the Equal Protection, Due Process, and Full Faith and Credit Clauses of the United States Constitution... I stand with you to stop judicial tyranny and any unlawful opinions issued without constitutional authority."This was blatantly illegal, as state courts can't overrule federal courts under the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause. Nevertheless, Moore's decree led to chaos all over the state. Some probate courts ignored him and followed the federal ruling; others refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; and still others closed entirely, preventing anyone from obtaining a marriage license. (The Ku Klux Klan issued a rousing statement of support for Moore.)
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